At USC: Hello to Sample . . . : . . . and goodby to Zumberge, who hands over a much improved place

The University of Southern California is in the right place at the right time to lead its region through years of ethnic and intellectual ferment that are just starting in earnest.

Now the school’s trustees think they have found the man to lead the university itself through those years, Steven B. Sample, whose interests range well beyond his degrees in electrical engineering--to administration, teaching literature and community work.

The Times welcomes Sample, who will leave the State University of New York in Buffalo for his new job as president of USC next March, and wishes him well in a venture as important for its community as any campus could undertake.

We also extend somewhat early thanks to James H. Zumberge, who will retire as president at the end of next March, for his success in raising both the quality of the faculty and the university’s intellectual horizons.

At least as important to Sample, we suppose, will be his sense of gratitude--not at all uncommon among incoming presidents--for the $641 million in funds that Zumberge raised during the past six years to help USC’s crusade for academic excellence.

Heady days lie ahead for Sample, not only on campus but in Southern California generally. This region faces a period of profound demographic and economic change.

Los Angeles is positioning itself to be the financial and banking capital of the United States in its dealings with Pacific and Asian nations. The region must scramble to expand its research and development capabilities while the emphasis in manufacturing veers away from defense to consumer products and services on a global scale.

At age 50, Sample is sure to be at the USC helm when the region plunges into a future no longer dominated by white suburbanites. Helping guide the region in a transition on such a scale will demand tact, wisdom, patience and limitless energy. Sample seems to understand the implications of the task he takes on. We say again, good luck and go to it.